In a storm of controversy, the Reader's Digest Association published its condensation of the RSV of Bible, known as the Reader's Digest Bible (RDB) in 1982.

After several years of planning, the task of condensing the Bible was undertaken by a team of editors highly skilled in the techniques of condensation. They were required to follow a 50-page guide analyzing, describing, and giving examples of each facet of the techniques involved. Supervised by Bruce Metzger, the chairman of the RSV committee, the actual work of condensing the Bible was to take three years.

Early on, it was decided that some of the better known passages as the 10 Commandments, the 23rd Psalm, the Lord's Prayer, and other familiar passages would remain untouched while the rest of the Biblical text was significantly shortened.

In the Reader's Digest version of the Bible, the Old Testament was cut by 55% and the New Testament by only 25%. With the exceptions of the epistles of Philemon, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude, every book of the Bible was condensed to some degree. The process of condensing the Bible followed definite, predetermined guidelines, and was not haphazard.

The Reader's Digest Bible was never intended as a substitute for the complete, uncondensed Bible. It is designed to be a summary of the contents of the Bible text. The average person approaching the Bible for the first time is likely to be overwhelmed by the size of it. The RDV was designed for the person who would otherwise not read the Bible at all, or who would do so only sporadically. It does not replace the full text.